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What’s Ahead
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| A mural at the National Science Foundation’s new headquarters building in Alexandria, Virginia. (Image credit – NSF / Bill Petros Photography) |
NSF Physical Sciences Advisory Panel to Discuss ‘Big Ideas’
The advisory committee for the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate will convene Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss four of the agency’s “10 big ideas,” including those focused on quantum information science and multimessenger astronomy. NSF has issued a number of funding solicitations and awards over the past year related to these big ideas. For instance, last week NSF announced a $15 million grant to support development of the first “practical” quantum computer. It also has issued a new funding solicitation to create new quantum “foundries” that will use mid-scale research infrastructure to develop quantum materials and devices. Following their discussion of the big ideas, the committee will meet with NSF Director France Córdova and the agency’s new chief operating officer, Fleming Crim, who directed the MPS directorate from 2013 to 2017. The meeting will be webcast.
ARPA-E Nominee to Face Senate Panel
On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing on President Trump’s nomination of Lane Genatowski to be director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy. Genatowski has spent his career in energy sector finance. As director, he would lead an agency the Trump administration has repeatedly proposed to eliminate. However, Congress has maintained support for ARPA–E and recently increased its funding to its highest level ever. Genatowski will be joined at the hearing by William Cooper, Trump’s nominee for general counsel at the Department of Energy.
Trump to Sign Defense Policy Update into Law
President Trump will sign the “John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019” on Monday during a visit to Fort Drum in upstate New York. Each year, Congress passes a new version of this legislation to update the nation’s defense policies, and moved unusually quickly with it this year. FYI will summarize many of the bill’s provisions relating to R&D and defense technologies in a forthcoming bulletin.
National Academies Convening Symposium on Local Climate Assessment
The National Academies is hosting a two-day workshop this week that will explore how state and local governments are “increasingly taking the lead on climate change assessments.” Individuals involved with California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment and other sub-national assessments will discuss strategies for engaging utilities and other local stakeholders in implementing proposed policy interventions. The event is sponsored by the California Energy Commission and the Electric Power Research Institute and will be webcast.
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In Case You Missed It
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| NASA recently announced that a helicopter will be included with the Mars 2020 flagship mission as a technology demonstration. Following a recommendation in the most recent National Academies decadal survey for planetary science, the Mars 2020 rover is being developed as the first part of a program to return samples from the Martian surface to Earth. (Image credit – NASA / JPL-Caltech) |
Planetary Science Decadal Survey Midterm Review Released
The National Academies released its midterm review of the planetary science decadal survey on Aug. 7. Completed in 2011, the survey is the guiding document for NASA’s Planetary Science Division for the period spanning 2013 to 2022. The review finds NASA has made “impressive progress” in implementing the survey’s priorities and affirms the agency’s Mars 2020 and Europa Clipper missions conform to its recommendations for cost-effective flagship missions. However, the review notes NASA is behind the survey’s suggested pace for selecting medium-scale and small-scale missions. It also warns that recent congressional directives to press ahead with an expensive Europa lander and institute an “Ocean Worlds” science program risk subverting the decadal survey process.
APS Report Calls for LEU-Fueled Reactors to Bolster Neutron Research
The American Physical Society released a report on Aug. 6 recommending actions to address the diminished U.S. capacity for neutron scattering research. It notes the availability of instrumentation for scattering research has declined since its peak in 1996 and that no high-performance research reactors have been commissioned in the U.S. since 1969. It observes that the highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel employed in most reactors poses nuclear proliferation risks, which has contributed to their decline. The report recommends the U.S. increase its investments in neutron instrumentation to help compensate for its decreasing capacity for neutron R&D. It also endorses a shift toward using low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuels and calls on the U.S. to “initiate an effort to competitively design and build a new generation of LEU-fueled high-performance reactors.”
National Academies Planning Study on Future of US Weather Enterprise
The National Academies Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) has announced it plans to conduct a study that will “outline a vision for the U.S. weather enterprise over the next 10-25 years.” The study aims to identify community goals for the next decade and the critical investments, institutions, and coordination mechanisms needed to meet them. BASC is pursuing a crowdsourcing approach for financing the study and is seeking broad participation from government, industry, and academic stakeholders to reflect the complexity of the weather enterprise. To help frame the study, BASC held a workshop last week at the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Community Meeting.
Trump Picks Physicist to be Deputy NNSA Administrator
On Aug. 10, President Trump announced his intention to nominate William Bookless to be principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. After receiving his doctorate in physics from the University of Wyoming in 1980, Bookless spent most of his career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and served as the lab’s deputy associate director for its nuclear weapons program and associate director for safety and environmental protection. He was also a senior advisor to NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, he became assistant laboratory director for policy and planning at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He retired from Brookhaven in 2015.
Trump Tells CEOs Many Foreign Students are Spies
According to reports by Politico and CNN, at a private dinner last week with a small group of business leaders, President Trump said foreign students represent an espionage threat to the U.S. One attendee told Politico that during a lengthy diatribe on China, Trump remarked that “almost every student that comes over to this country is a spy.” According to both reports, Trump also sought to assure attendees he would institute favorable visa policies for highly skilled workers and students. This year, federal officials have testified to Congress that the Chinese government uses some students as “non-traditional collectors” of intellectual property and other technical knowledge, often using legally legitimate methods. This is the first indication the issue has caught Trump’s own attention. In a statement provided to Inside Higher Education, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) said Trump’s reported comments “feed into stereotypes that endanger Chinese and Asian American students” and “discourage these students from entering STEM fields for fear they’ll be targeted for the crime of studying while Asian.”
Griffin Defends Feasibility of Space-Based Missile Defense
At a missile defense conference last week, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin argued that using space-based interceptors to shoot down missiles in their boost phase is a “relatively easy technological challenge.” Griffin, who led technology development for the Strategic Defense Initiative under President George H. W. Bush, said he believes the interceptor concept has been “a victim of unrealistically high, uninformed cost estimates.” The main barrier, he asserted, is “it has not been the policy of the United States to deploy such systems.” The remarks come as this year’s annual defense policy bill directs the Department of Defense to develop a space-based missile defense system, subject to the availability of appropriations. Critics of the provision have cited missile defense feasibility studies conducted by the American Physical Society, an AIP Member Society, and the National Academies to argue that such systems are “impossibly expensive and vulnerable to simple countermeasures.”
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Events This Week
Monday, August 13 No events.
Wednesday, August 15 No events start today.
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Opportunities NASA Seeking Deputy Chief Scientist
NASA is accepting applications for deputy chief scientist at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Position responsibilities include coordinating science activities across NASA programs and representing the chief scientist to external stakeholders, among other duties. Individuals must have substantial training in physical science and senior executive-level science policy leadership experience. Applications are due Sept. 5.
NSF Seeking Legislative Specialist
The National Science Foundation is accepting applications for a legislative specialist within its Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. Position responsibilities include assisting in the preparation for congressional hearings and developing NSF’s legislative strategy, among other duties. Individuals with at least one year of related experience in legislative affairs are encouraged to apply. Applications are due Aug. 27.
New AAAS Education and Workforce Center Seeking Director
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is accepting applications for director of its new Center for Education and Workforce Programs. The goal of the center is to unite STEM education, diversity, and inclusion programs across AAAS. Interested individuals with an advanced degree and extensive experience in STEM education and workforce issues are encouraged to apply.
Know of an upcoming science policy opportunity? Email us at fyi@aip.org.Know of an upcoming science policy event? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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